Milton Glaser - Just Enough Is More

I had the great opportunity to go see and listen to Milton Glaser at BYU last night. He has had a powerful impact on graphic design since 1954 and is probably best known for his logo. He has designed everything from album covers to packaging, from posters to newspaper designs, from books to logos, from web sites to restaurant interiors, and from theme parks to calendars.
At the lecture, Glaser did not stand up and speak but he sat down with Steven Heller and they had more of a conversation and question / answer dialogue. Some of the key points that I got out of it were;

1. Just enough is more. It’s not the idea of “less is more”. That was more of a movement that was an attempt to counter Victorian fussiness and so on. It’s more of the idea of, “Just enough is more”.
2. Don’t get labeled doing something that you don’t want to do. “If you don’t want to do Cocker Spaniels, don’t do them”
3. When asked about his thoughts on the difference of images and typography, he stated, “Words are as powerful as images because they are images”.
4. Speaking to the students, but to all, he stated, “You have to be realistic and ambitious”. Meaning, when starting out you became a designer to make a living, so you can’t forget that.
5. You have to activate the mind because most people are asleep. When they look at something they don’t see it. But when ambiguity is present, they try to figure it out.

Overall the event was very successful and any designer should have walked away with a desire to do more as a graphic designer.